INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


HON.  JOHN  ¥ENT¥ORTH, 


HELIVERED   BEFORE    THE 


co3v:is^oisr  ooxjisroiij, 


METROPOLITAN    HALL,    CHICAGO, 


ON   THURSDAY,   MARCH   22d,   I860. 


I 
I 
^  CHICAGO : 

DAILY    DEMOCRAT    PRINT,    45    I,  A    SALLE    STREET. 

18G0. 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


HON.  JOHN  ¥ENT¥OETH, 


DELITEKED    BEFORE   THE 


co:m::m:o:n-  oounsrciL^ 


METROPOLITAN    HALL,    CHICAGO, 


ON   THURSDAY,   MARCH   22d,  1860. 


CHICAGO  : 

DAILY   DEMOCRAT   PRINT,    45    LA    SALLE   STREET, 

1860. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

CARLI:  Consortium  of  Academic  and  Researcii  Libraries  in  Illinois 


http://wWw.ardhive.org/details/inauguraladdressOOwent 


IN^VUaTJIi^L  ADDRESS 


HON.  JOHN  WENTWORTII. 


Gentlejien  of  the  Cosimon  Council  : 

The  Chapter  of  the  Charter  of  the  City  of  Chicao-o,  which 
requires  me  to  take  ami  subscribe  to  the  oath  of  office,  just  administered  to 
me,  defines  the  duties  of  tlie  Mayor,  as  follows  : 

"  He  sliall  preside  over  the  meetings  of  the  Common  Council,  and  take  care  that  the 
laws  of  the  State  and  ordinances  of  the  City  are  duly  enforced,  respected,  and  observed 
and  that  all  other  Executive  officers  of  the  C-ity  discharge  their  respective  duties.  He  shall 
from  time  to  time,  give  the  Common  Council  such  information,  and  recommend  such  mea- 
sures as  he  may  deem  advantageous  to  the  City." 

There  are  many  law?  and  ordinances  appertaining-  to  our  Municipal 
government,  the  pro])riety  of  which  may  be  questioned  ;  but  the  oath  of 
office  which  I  have  just  taken  requires  me  to  take  care  that  all  of  them  be 
"duly  enforced,  respected,  anl  observed."  Furthermore,  I  am  required  to 
take  care  that  all  the  other  officers  of  the  city  discharge  their  duties,  in 
causing  each  and  every  one  of  the  laws  and  ordinances  to  be  "  duly  en- 
forced, respected,  and  observed." 

Chapter  11.  of  the  City  Charter  provides  for  the  removal  of  every  person 
appointed  or  elected  to  any  office,  by  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  all  the  Alder- 
men, upon  good  cause  therefor  being  shown  ;  and  it  is  good  cause  for  the 
removal  of  any  man  when  he  takes  the  oath  which  all  officers  are  compelled 
to  take,  and  1,hen  gives  no  attention  to  plain  violations  of  the  City  laws 
and  ordinances.  Sucli  an  officer  perjures  himself,  and  ought  to  be  i)romptly 
removed  therefor. 

A  large  number  of  the  city  officers  are  appointed  by  the  Mayor.  I 
shall  ap])oint  no  man  to  any  office,  nor  allow  him  when  appointed  to  remain 
in  any  office,  unless  he  can  read  and  understand  the  laws  and  ordinances 
appertaining  to  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  unless  he  will  heartily  co-opetate 
with  me  in  taking  care  that  the  laws  and  ordinances  be  "  duly  enforced, 
respected,  and  observed."  It  is  no  part  of  the  duty  of  Executive  officers 
to  enquire  into  the  justice  or  expediency  of  any  law.  It  is  enoTigh  for  them 
to  know  that  thus  saith  the  law.  Besides,  the  best  way  to  bring  about  the 
repeal  of  an  obnoxious  law  is  to  enforce  it ;  and  every  law  which  ought  not 
to  be,  or  cannot  be,  enforced  should  be  at  once  repealed.  Our  laws  should 
be  few  in  n.umber  and  simple  in  language.  The  enactments  of  our  legisla- 
ture are  beyond  the  reach  of  this  Council ;  but  I  recommend  a  thorough 
revision  of  our  City  Ordinances  with  reference  to  this  consideration.  A 
pamphlet  of  a  few  pages  only,  will  contain  all  the  ordinances  necessary  for 
the  good  and  quiet  government  of  our  city,  and  a  sum  merely  nominal 
would  supply  every  family  with  a  copy.  If  we  expect  all  to  obey  our  laws 
and  ordinances,  we  should  have  them  within  the  reach  of  all. 


I  am  not  a  candidate  for  re-election  ;  and  I  recommend  tliat,  at  the  next 
session  of  our  Legislatm-e,  our  Charter  be  so  amended  as  to  make  the 
Mayor  ineligible  to  an  immediate  re-election.  This  is  now  the  case  with 
the  SheriflF  of  our  county  and  Marshal  of  our  city.  The  Mayor's  office  is 
not  the  place  for  any  man  who  desires  immediate  political  j^referment  of 
any  kind,  lest  the  desire  to  make  friends,  and  the  fear  to  ittake  enemies, 
prove  incentives  to  him  to  deviate  from  the  peremptory  requirements  of  the 
law.  The  Mayor  is  but  the  right  arm  of  the  law,  and  there  should  be 
nothing  of  human  ambition  to  paralyze  the  power  of  tliat  arm, 

I  am  aware  too  many  persons  think  that  each  Mayor  makes  his  own 
laws.  Now  the  Mayor  can  vote  only  when  the  Board  of  Aldermen  is 
equally  divided ;  and  two  thirds  of  the  Board  can  repeal  any  existing  ordi- 
nance or  enact  a  new  one,  in  defiance  of  the  Mayor's  most  active  opposition. 
But,  although  the  Mayor  be  opposed  to  an  ordinance,  his  oath  requires  that 
he  enforce  it  as  rigidly  as  if  it  met  with  his  warmest  approbation.  During 
my  administration,  in  1857-8,  I  was  frequently  called  upon  to  enforce  laws 
which  could  never  have  met  with  my  official  approval ;  but  I  was  compelled 
by  my  oath  thus  to  do,  or  stand  before  the  world  as  self-convicted  of 
perjury.  There  are  many  ordinances  that  ought  to  be  repealed  or  ma- 
terially amended ;  but,  so  long  as  you,  the  legislative  power  of  the  city, 
shall  deem  it  best  to  leave  them  as  they  are,  they  shall  be  promptly  enforced. 

These  sentiments  are  but  a  repetition  of  those  promulgated  in  my 
inaugural  address  of  1857,  and  which  controlled  my  action  whilst  in  office. 
For  a  long  period  of  the  time  during  which  I  have  been  a  resident  of 
Chicago,  the  party  with  which  I  was  politically  associated  was  in  a  majority. 
Yet,  during  that  time,  I  never  entertained  the  least  desire  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  the  office  of  Mayor,  inasmuch  as  my  name  was  used  in  connection 
"with  other  offices.  I  looked  upon  it  as  an  office  in  which  a  man  who  did 
his  duty  stood  no  chance  to  make  friends,  but  was  sure  to  greatly  multiply 
the  number  of  his  opponents.  I  had  received  at  five  diffiirent  elections  the 
highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people;  and,  in  justice  to  others,  I  had  no 
right  to  expect  any  further  honors  in  that  direction.  Having  finished  my 
political  career,  and  thus  being  in  a  situation  in  which  I  could  afford  to  act 
independently,  and  set  at  defiance  the  spirit  of  lawlessness  which  was  over- 
running the  city,  I  consented  to  take  the  office  of  Mayor.  Remembering 
my  oath  of  office,  I  at  once  set  myself  at  work  to  enforce  all  the  laws  and 
ordinances  of  the  city.  This  gave  great  oflence  to  a  class  of  voters,  who 
professed  to  entertain  peculiar  notions  respecting  what  they  called  necessary 
evils  in  large  cities,  of  which  evils  they  themselves  were  not  only  conspicu- 
ous patrons,  but  often  large  beneficiaries.  They  censured  me  for  executing 
laws  which  they  dared  not  petition  to  have  repealed,  and  which  should  now  be 
repealed  if  they  cannot,  or  ought  not,  be  enforced.  But,  nevertheless,  I 
continued  to  enforce  the  laws.  Portions  of  our  city,  confiscated  to  vice  and 
crime,  were  made  orderly  and  respectable,  and  are  now  inhabited  by  some  of 
our  most  law  abiding  citizens.  Gambling  Houses,  Brothels,  and  other  abodes 
of  lawlessness  were  broken  up,  and  their  inmates  brought  to  justice  or  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  city.  Many  of  these  offenders,  thus  disturbed  by  an 
honest  execution  of  long  existing  laws,  were  persons  of  wealth,  talents  and 
position.  They  had  not  then  reached  that  degradation  into  which  an 
established  career  of  vice  is  sure  eventually  to  plunge  every  one.  Feeling 
the  effects  of  such  an  administration,  this  class  of  men  have  been  making  it 
their  business  to  see  that  there  never  should  be  another  such  Mayor  in  any 
city  in  the  Union  ;  and  so  they  have  tried,  by  every  means  in  their  power, 
to  make  my  former  administration  odious,  both  at  home  and  abroad.      Not 


only  has  a  portion  of  the  press  of  our  own,  but  of  that  of  ahnost  every  city  in 
the  Union,  been  at  work  to  so  nioukl  public  opinion  that  no  Mayor  in  any 
city  would  ever  again  endeavor  to  enforce  the  laws  against  this  class  of 
oftenders.  Under  this  state  of  things,  I  deemed  it  a  great  moral  necessity 
to  appeal  to  the  people  again ;  and  for  tliis  cause  alone  did  I  consent  to 
become  a  candidate  for  Mayor.  I  felt  it  a  duty  to  show,  not  only  to  future 
Mayors  of  my  own,  but  to  Mayors  of  every  othi'r  city,  that  an  executive 
could  be  sustained  in  a  faithful  execution  of  the  laws  against  all  classes  of 
offenders.  Since  the  close  of  my  former  administration  I  have  held  myself 
personally,  morally,  socially  and  ])ecuniarily  responsible  ibr  all  my  acts 
whilst  in  the  othce  of  Mayor.  I  was  tried  by  those  acts  at  the  late  election. 
They  were  presented  in  newspapers,  and  in  public  speeches,  in  their  worst 
phase,  by  those  opposed  to  me.  These  acts  were  not  only  justified  by  me 
in  a  newspaper  which  I  controlled,  and  also  in  public  speeches  made  by  me 
in  every  part  of  the  city ;  but  I  avowed,  in  words  unmistakable,  that  I  had 
no  other  object  in  becoming  a  candidate  for  Mayor  than  to  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  repeat  them  under  the  same  circumstances.  When  a  candidate  in 
1857,  I  received  5,924  votes.  At  the  election  just  terminated  I  received,  out 
of  18,747,  the  number  of  10,007  votes,  making  a  majority  of  1,267  votes,  and 
being  almost  double  the  number  I  received  at  my  first  election  ;  and  this,  too, 
with  the  oldest  and  most  powerful  organization  in  the  l^nion  opposing  me 
upon  a  difierence  of  political  sentiments  ;  whilst  it  was  aided  by  that  element 
of  lawlessness  which,  in  large  cities,  claims  to  hold  the  balance  of  power, 
and  which  timid  and  corrupt  aspirants  are  too  apt  to  court;  but  which  I 
have  ever  defied,  and  shall  do  my  utmost  to  remove  from  the  city.  Fortu- 
nately, since  I  left  the  ofiice  of  Mayor,  an  important  ordinance,  commonly 
known  as  the  "  Yagrant  Act,"  has  been  passed,  and  I  intend  to  rigidly 
enforce  it.  Under  its  provisions,  all  suspicious  persons  can  be  compelled 
to  give  "a  good  account  of  themselves;"  whereas,  under  ray  previous 
administration,  I  had  to  await  overt  acts.  My  course,  then,  cannot  be 
misinterpreted.  It  is  not  my  fault  that  we  have  unpopular  and  unjust  laws  ;  ' 
but  it  will  be  my  fault  if  they  are  not  foithfully  executed.  I  then  have  but 
one  order  to  give  to  those  whom  the  people  are  taxed  to  support  as  my  sub- 
ordinates, and  that  is  : 

Remember  your  oath  !     Road  the  laws  !     Execute  them  ! 

Sectiox  3d  of  the  Amended  City  Charter  requires  that  "  every  act, 
ordinance  or  resolution,  passed  by  the  Common  Council,  before  it  shall  take 
effect,  shall  be  presented,  duly  certified  by  the  City  Clerk,  to  the  Mayor,  for 
his  approbation.  If  he  approve,  he  shall  sign  it.  If  not  he  shall  return  it 
with  his  objections  in  Avriting." 

I  deem  it  my  duty  here  thus  early  to  state  that  I  shall  allow  no  person 
to  hold  any  conversation  with  me  respecting  such  "  act,  ordinance  or  reso- 
lution." But  any  citizen  or  citizens  who  wish  to  influence  my  action  thereon, 
can  leave  a  written  communicotion  Avith  the  Clerk,  whose  duty  it  will  be  to 
file  such  communication  with  the  papers  in  the  case,  and  such  communication 
will  be  considered  public  in  its  character,  and  will  be  preserved  in  the 
archives  of  the  city.  The  same  will  be  my  course  in  relation  to  all  city 
contracts.  All  communications  with  me  respecting  public  business  must  be 
in  writing,  and  that  writing  will  be  considered  the  property  of  the  city.  The 
same  as  regards  appointments  to  ofiice.  Verbal  communications  are  liable 
to  misunderstandings,  to  say  nothing  of  misrepi-esentations.  But  allow  me  to 
suggest  that,  as  I  am  held  responsible  for  the  acts  of  my  appointees,  I  shall 
feel  as  free  to  look  over  the  City  Directory  as  I  shall  the  list  of  applicants. 

At  my  inauguration  in  1857,  the  Funded  Debt  of  the  city  was  8535,000. 


6 

I  looked  around  in  vain  for  those  works  of  great  public  utility  by  which  we 
could  justify  to  posterity  this  tax  upon  it.  After  a  further  examination  I 
found  that  my  predecessors  had  construed  the  right  to  borrow  not  exceeding 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  any  one  year,  authorized  by  the  Charter,  as 
a  legitimate  source  of  revenue.  So,  after  they  had  taxed  the  people  to  the 
utmost  limit  that  they  dare  do,  they  borrowed  the  $100,000,  and  expended 
it.  I  did  not  deem  it  right  thus  to  burthen  posterity  without  an  equivalent. 
Again,  our  Sewerage  Commissioners,  and  our  Water  Commissioners,  were 
borrowing  money  and  needed  the  full  ci  edit  of  our  city.  So  I  resolved  not  to 
add  to  our  funded  debt.  1  decreased  it  twenty-one  thousand  dollars.  My  suc- 
cessor did  not  disturb  it,  and  so  it  now  stands  at  $514,000.  In  addition  to 
the  legitimate  expenses  of  my  administration,  I  found  it  burthened  with  a 
large  number  of  expensive  works,  for  which  contracts  had  been  executed; 
and  all  these  contracts  entered  into  previous  to  my  administration  with  their 
incidents,  have  cost  the  city  more  than  the  entire  amount  of  its  present 
floating  debt.  I  need  hardly  call  attention  in  this  connection,  to  the  Ar- 
mory, the  City  Hospital,  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  dredge  at  Rush  Street 
Bridge,  &c.,  &c.  Unwilling  to  leave  even  a  floating  debt,  my  Administra- 
tion resorted  to  the  very  highest  point  of  taxation.  It  also  resorted  to  such 
uncommon  diligence  in  the  collection  of  licenses,  fines  and  revenues  from 
all  other  sources,  that  it  was  censured  in  many  quarters  for  its  severity, 
although  it  did  nothing  but  that  which  the  law  required  it  should  do.  I 
also  refused  to  fill  many  ofiices  which  I  had  the  power  to  fill,  in  order  to 
save  the  salaries  to  the  treasury.  For  the  same  reason  I  used  all  my  eflorts 
to  cut  down  salaries,  to  otherwise  curtail  expenses,  and  frequently  had  to 
resort  to  the  veto  power.  I  am  satisfied  that,  had  this  policy  of  mine  been 
continued,  the  city  would  not  be  burdened  with  a  floating  debt  at  the 
present  time. 

Economy  in  the  administration  of  public  aflfairs  is  always  desirable, 
because  it  is  the  surest  guarantee  against  corruption.  But  at  the  present 
time  it  is  an  imperious  necessity.  Our  city  credit  was  never  in  such  imrai- 
nent  hazard  as  it  is  at  the  present  moment.  I  have  been  inaugurated  at 
the  most  critical  period  of  our  financial  history.  But  I  hope  we  shall  be 
enabled  to  maintain  our  credit  untarnished  for  the  few  months  between  this 
and  the  next  session  of  our  Legislature.  At  present  there  seems  to  be  but 
one  voice  among  our  citizens  as  to  the  means,  then,  of  relieving  us  from  our 
present  embarrassment  and  of  preventing  its  recurrence.  We  must  then 
fund  our  floating  debt  and  be  prohibited  from  borrowing  money  or  con- 
tracting debts  thereafter. 

After  deducting  the  proceeds  of  the  Tax  Sale  for  this  year  and  of  all  other 
revenues  accruing  prior  to  April  1st,  there  will  remain  a 'floating  debt  of  full 
$300,000.  On  that  day  the  administration  will  find  itself  with  an  empty  Trea- 
sury, and  with  a  floating  debt  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  provide 
for.  liesides,  it  will  have  its  own  expenses  to  pay.  How  are  these  expenses 
and  this  debt  to  be  met  ?  I  propose  to  ask  an  extension  upon  all  debts  con- 
tracted prior  to  April  1st,  and  petition  our  Legislature  at  its  next  session  for 
the  passage  of  a  law  allowing  the  city  to  fund  the  same.  But  the  interest  upon 
the  above  debt  will  unquestionably  have  to  be  paid  out  of  the  revenue  of 
this  yeai'.  It  is  doubtful  what  will  be  the  decision  of  our  Courts  as  to  the 
right  of  the  City  to  make  a  temporary  loan  in  anticipation  of  (the  coming) 
this  year's  taxes.  So  there  is  every  probability  that  all  the  employees 
of  the  City  will  have  to  await  some  time  for  their  pay. 

But  let  us  see  what  are  our  means  of  raising  revenues  from  taxes. 

We  are  allowed  to  raise  a  tax  of  two  mills  for  the  Sewerage  interest,  and 


this  will  be  hardly  sufficient  for  tliis  purpose. 

We  are  allowed  to  raise  two  mills  for  school  purposes,  and  this  will  be 
hardly  sufficient. 

Whatever  money  is  raised  for  the  reform  School  must,  by  law,  bo 
applied  specifically  to  that  purpose ;  and  which  will  be  the  proceeds  of  a 
tax  of  about  one  lialf  a  mill. 

For  permanent  improvements  nothing  can  be  raised,  except  upon  the 
specific  improvements  named.  Any  appropriation  made,  except  for  such 
named  improvements,  would  be  illegal. 

We  are  allowed  to  raise  but  one  mill  for  our  interest  tax;  and  this  year 
it  will  require  full  two  ruills  for  that  purpose. 

For  general  purposes  three  mills  and  one  half  are  allowed.  But  ol 
these  three  mills  and  a  half,  at  least  one  mill  will  have  to  be  taken  to_  m^et 
the  interest  upon  the  floating  debt,  and  which  is  not  provided  for  in  the 
interest  tax. 

Thus  we  have  left  but  two  mills  and  one  half,  with  which  to  carry  on 
the  Government  for  the  year  commencing  April  first. 

In  addition  to  the  floating  debt,  above  mentioned,  to  be  provided  for, 
there  is  the  sum  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  of  the  funded  debt  falling  due 
this  year. 

With  this  condition  of  things  before  us,  how  otherwise  should  a  city 
government  conduct  itself  but  as  would  a  private  individual  under  the  same 
circumstances,  viz  :  curtail  expenditures  in  every  possible  way  ? 

I  think  that,  by  funding  all  the  debt  accruing  prior  to  April  first,  the 
Government  can  be  carried  on  from  April  first,  1860,  to  April  first,  1861,  with 
a  tax  of  ten  mills  only.  But  this  cannot  be  done  if  men,  after  election, 
falsify  pledges  of  economy  made  before,  and  if  old  claims  against  the 
Treasury  are  to  be  paid  out  of  the  revenues  of  this  year. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  approve  of  any  orders  passed  by  the  Council 
for  the  payment  of  bills  rejected  by  the  Comptroller,  who  alone  is  authorized 
to  contract  debts  for  the  City.  If  individuals  think  they  have  any  claims 
against  the  City,  prior  to  my,  and  not  allowed  by  the  Comptroller  during 
former,  administrations,  they  must  seek  their  remedy  in  the  Courts ;  for  it 
will  only  be  by  the  utmost  economy  that  the  revenues  of  the  present  year 
can  be  made  to  meet  the  expenses  thereof. 

There  is  no  city  the  inhabitants  of  which  have  been  more  willing  to 
make  improvements  than  our  own  ;  and  as  long  as  their  ability  to  do  so 
continued,  they  paid  all  assessments  cheerfully.  Short  crops  in  the  country, 
and  other  causes,  have  tended  to  interrupt  the  business  of  our  city,  or  at 
least  curtail  its  profits.  There  is  now  a  general  disposition  to  suspend 
improvements  until  business  shall  become  more  lucrative.  The  special 
assessments  of  last  year  were  very  burdensome  to  our  people ;  and  those 
who  at  one  time  were  the  most  anxious  for  improvements  are,  now,  from 
inability  to  pay  their  assessments,  the  most  anxious  to  have  them  temporarily 
suspended.  I  therefore  recommend  the  vacation  of  the  oftice  of  Superin- 
tendent of  Special  Assessments,  until  the  services  of  such  an  officer  shall  be 
absolutely  needed.  Should  they  be  required  to  close  up  any  works  already 
ordered,  I  recommend  that  the  Superintendent  be  appointed  only  for  the 
necessary  period,  and  in  that  case  upon  a  per  diem  compensation. 

For  the  same  reason  I  recommend  the  vacation  of  the  office  of  City 
Superintendent,  and  that  some  person  be  employed  at  a  per  diem  compen- 
sation to  close  up  the  few  works  remaining  unfinished. 

The  City  is  now  carrying  on  no  work  whatever  that  needs  a  Superin- 
tendent, and  the  condition  of  the  finances  will  not  allow  it  to  do  so  during 


this  municipal  year.  There  are  a  very  few  contracts  for  special  improve- 
ments for  which  the  warrants  have  been  issued  and  nearly  the  whole 
amount  collected.  And  it  is  proposed  to  give  our  citizens  rest  from  special 
improvements  this  year, although  cormorant  contractors  and  heartless  sj^ecu- 
lators  have  already  commenced  their  manceuvres  to  nullify  this  beneficent  in- 
tention of  ours.  And  to  illustrate  how  common  it  is  for  administrations  to  be 
looking  after  the  interests  of  office  seekers  rather  than  after  those  of  the 
great  mass  of  the  tax  payers,  I  would  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that 
three  men,  at  an  expense  of  three  thousand  dollars  per  annum  have  been 
kept  in  the  City  Superintendent's  oflice  all  through  the  winter,  when  there 
was  not  work  enough  to  occupy  the  time  of  the  Superintendent  himself. 
The  main  work  for  a  Superintendent  this  year  will  be  attendance  upon  minor 
repairs,  of  which  it  is  the  custom  of  the  Comptroller  to  receive  the  first 
notice.  Any  master  mechanic,  such  as  received  $3  25  per  day  last  year, 
could,  under  the  direction  of  the  Comptroller,  discharge  the  entire  duties 
of  the  City  Superintendent  for  the  present  year. 

Whenever  it  shall  be  your  pleasure  to  re-commence  our  system  of  city 
improvements,  I  earnestly  exhort  you  to  allow  no  work  to  be  undertaken 
until  the  assessment  roll  has  been  confirmed,  and  the  money  actually  paid 
into  the  City  Treasury.  It  is  within  the  knowledge  of  you  all  that  often- 
times the  first  men  to  ask  for  improvements  are  the  last  to  pay  for  them. 
Indeed  there  are  some  persons  who  never  would  do  so  if  they  could  avoid  it  by 
any  legal  technicality.  It  is  often  the  case,  also,  that  contractors,  owners  of 
gravel  pits,  stone  quarries,  lumber  yards,  &c.,  &c.,  set  on  foot  im))rovements 
which  are  neither  asked  for  by  the  parties  interested,  nor  needed  by  the 
public  at  large.  A  temporary  suspension  of  our  system  of  improvements, 
under  special  assessments,  would  be  a  measure  of  great  relief  to  many  of 
our  property  holders,  and  would  be  injurious  to  none ;  for  those  who 
realize  any  thing  of  the  future  prospects  of  Chicago  must  know  that  such  a 
suspension  would  be  but  temporary. 

When  we  ask  the  Legislature  to  allow  us  to  fund  the  present  floating 
debt,  I  recommend  that  ample  provision  be  made,  in  the  law  to  be  passed, 
against  any  further  increase  of  the  funded  debt,  or  power  to  create  a  floating 
debt.  Our  Sewerage  Commissioner  and  Water  Commissioner  debts  are 
liable  to  be  increased  with  the  increase  of  the  city.  In  order  to  keep  our 
credit  good  for  these  purposes  we  should  have  no  power  to  create  any  other 
debt,  and  should  have  a  separate  tax  for  our  interest,  and  for  a  sinking 
fund.  In  many  dities,  at  the  present  time,  all  appropriations  are  void 
whenever  there  is  not  at  the  time  money  in  the  Treasury  to  meet  them. 
This  provision  prevents  a  city  from  running  in  debt,  and  should  be  made 
the  law  in  Chicago.  Had  such  a  provision  been  in  force  from  the  origin  of 
our  city  government,  its  advantages  would  have  been  incalculable. 

Whenever  a  judgment  is  obtained  against  the  City,  the  Comptroller 
should  have  power  to  raise  a  temporary  loan  to  meet  it,  and  should  be 
required  to  add  the  amount  to  his  estimates  for  the  next  year.  Then  limit 
the  power  to  tax  to  a  fixed  number  of  mills  and  there  will  be  no  danger  of 
our  credit's  being  impaired  hereafter,  by  extravagance  or  corruption. 

I  recommend  the  abolition  of  the  offices  of  City  Physician  and  Health 
Officer;  the  former  officer  is  paid  the  sum  of  eight  hundred,  and  the  latter 
one  thousand  dollars  per  annum.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  County  to  provide 
medical  attendance  for  the  poor,  and,  whether  a  poor  man  is  in  the  Bride- 
well or  out  of  it,  he  has  claims  upon  the  County.  The  City,  forgetting  that 
it  was  the  duty  of  the  County  to  provide  for  the  sick  poor,  has  erected  a 
Hospital  at  an  expense  of  073,538,  which  to  the  city  is  the  ^ame  as  so  much 


money  thrown  away.  I  recommend  the  sale  of  said  Hospital  to  the  County, 
as  the  County  has  need  of  it,  whilst  the  City  has  not.  All  the  duties  of 
Health  Officer  can  be  performed  by  the  Policemen  of  the  City,  a  portion  of 
whose  business  is  to  see  that  Health  ordinances  and  regulations  are  com- 
plied with  as  well  as  others.  Should  any  contngious  disease  break  out  in 
our  city,  I  should  at  once  appoint  and  convoke  a  Board  of  Health,  composed 
of  some  of  our  oldest  and  most  discreet  citizens,  and  promptly  submit  to 
you  the  result  of  its  sanitary  deliberations  for  your  action. 
Section  2  of  Chapter  XL.  of  Municipal  Laws  says  : 

"  The  Mayor  shall  be  the  head  of  the  Police  Department,  and  shall  superintend  and 
direct  the  Police  generally." 

It  has  been  suggested  that  orders  could  be  issued  directly  to  the 
Lieutenants  of  the  Divisions,  and  thereby  save  the  salary  of  the  Captain 
of  Police,  which  is  fifteen  hundred  dollars  per  annum.  I  am  willing  to  try 
the  experiment  of  getting  along  without  a  Captain,  and  hope  I  may  succeed. 
I  therefore  shall  not  nominate  any  person  to  tha,t  office  at  present. 

During  my  former  term  as  Mayor,  I  a}ipointed  no  such  officer  as  Prose- 
cuting Attorney  of  the  Police  Court,  which  officer  now  receives  a  salary  of 
Twelve  Hundred  Dollars  per  annum.  The  City  Attorney  attended  to  all 
the  legal  business  in  1857,  and  there  is  no  probability  that  there  will  be  as 
much  business  of  that  character  to  transact  this  year  as  there  was  during 
that.  So  I  recommend  the  abolition  of  this  office.  I  have  procured  from 
the  dockets  of  our  various  Courts  a  list  of  the  city  cases,  and  after  a 
thorough  examination,  am  satisfied  that  this  can  be  safely  done.  Our  city 
business  in  the  upper  Courts  is  always  liable  to  exaggeration,  from  the  fact 
that  so  many  cases  are  appealed  for  the  purpose  of  delay,  but  which  are 
finally  disposed  of  by  default ;  whilst  in  the  Police  Court  most  of  the  cases 
are  disposed  of  by  the  prisoners  pleading  guilty. 

There  is  great  need  of  a  Registry  Law,  to  secure  the  purity  of  the 
elective  franchise  in  our  city.  Almost  all  other  cities  have  such  a  law. 
Registry  laws  have  been  rendered  unnecessarily  unpopular  in  many  instances 
in  consequence  of  their  contahiing  some  new  qualification  for  the  voter.  I 
would  be  willing  to  have  the  qualifications  remain  as  liberal  as  they  are  at 
present,  but  I  would  insist  that  every  man  should  have  his  name  and  place 
of  residence  registered  a  sufficient  length  of  time  before  election,  so  that  the 
poll  list  could  be  printed  with  the  names  arranged  in  alphabetical  order. 
This  would  not  only  protect  our  \Yards  from  fraudulent  voters,  but  would 
greatly  expedite  the  process  of  voting,  and  save  much  of  the  ill-feeling  which 
is  now  engendered  at  the  polls  in  consequence  of  questioning  and  chal- 
lenging. On  the  eve  of  the  late  election,  a  large  number  of  persons  were 
imported  into  our  city,  and  scattered  about  in  small  numbers  through  the 
different  Wards,  so  as  to  avoid  appearances  as  far  as  was  possible.  Those 
persons  are  not  now  to  be  found  in  our  city.  There  is  but  one  inference  to 
be  drawn  from  this,  and  that  is,  that  they  came  from  parts  unknown  to  us 
for  the  purpose  of  voting  in  our  city,  and  that  they  have  since  election 
returned  to  their  homes.  Again,  from  the  evening  of  the  day  preceding  the 
election  to  the  dawn  of  election  day,  there  could  have  been  seen  around  the 
polls,  in  several  of  the  Wards,  a  class  of  strange  men  conversing  about  the 
importance  and  the  means  of  getting  early  possession  of  them,  and  block- 
ading them,  so  as  to  keep  back  the  well-known  and  tax-paying  citizens. 
After  thus  keeping  awake  all  night,  you  could  have  seen  these  same  persons 
traveling  from  Ward  to  AYard,  voting  or  trying  to  vote,  wherever  they  went ; 
and  finally,  when  the  last  poll  was  closed,  you  could  have  seen  them  stand- 
ing around  complaining  that  the  polls  were  closed  too  early  for   them. 


10 

Where  are  these  men  who,  but  a  few  days  since,  were  manifesting  such  an 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  our  city  ?  The  men  who  brought  them  here  sent 
them  home  again.  Now,  if  this  state  of  things  is  to  continue,  our  offices 
may  as  well  be  set  up  at  auction  and  knocked  down  to  the  highest  bidder ; 
for  the  men  who  have  the  means  to  import  the  largest  number  of  voters  will 
eventually  get  the  offices.  It  is  not  the  conflict  of  principles  Avhich  will 
cause  an  outlay  of  money  sufficient  to  make  such  an  importation  of  illegal 
voters,  but  of  interests.  The  men  who  have  private  interests  to  subserve 
can  afford  the  expense  of  it,  but  all  such  men  will  reimburse  themselves  with 
interest  whenever  they  can  reach  the  public  treasury.  Hence,  one  set  of 
men  may  resort  to  this  method  of  carrying  elections  to-day,  and  another  set 
to-morrow,  just  as  private  interest  may  dictate.  In  fine,  therefore,  every 
tax-payei',  without  distinction  of  party;  every  man  who  would  protect  the 
public  treasury,  has  a  strong  pecuniary  interest  in  a  Registry  law.  No 
honest  cause  ever  required  an  illegal  vote.  An  office  seeker  who  pays  a  dol- 
lar for  such  a  vote  intends  to  get  it  back  when  elected. 

There  are  two  classes  of  men  who  take  offices.  One  class  takes  them 
as  a  matter  of  public  duty,  the  same  as  an  active  business  man  serves  uoon 
the  jury,  does  military  duty,  or  as  you,  gentlemen,  discharge  the  duties  of 
Aldermen.  This  class  labors  for  the  good  of  the  whole,  instead  of  for  that  of 
particular  individuals  in  the  community.  Selfish  interests  are  sacrificed  by  it 
to  the  paramount  interests  of  the  public.  There  is  another  class  that  follows 
office-holding  as  a  permanent  means  of  livelihood.  When  candidates,  these 
men  profess  great  sympathies  for  the  masses ;  and  how  can  office-holders 
manifest  their  sympathies  for  the  masses  better  than  by  contributing  all 
their  efforts  to  relieve  them  from  the  burthens  of  taxation  ?  Yet,  no  sooner 
are  they  elected  than  they  throw  every  possible  obstacle  in  the  way  of  re- 
duction of  fees,  salaries,  &c.,  &c.,  without  which  there  can  be  no  reduction 
of  taxes.  They  make  personal  appeals  to  Aldermen,  and  send  others  to 
make  them.  They  talk  of  the  poverty  of  themselves  ;  and  the  destitution  of 
their  families.  But  they  ignore  the  poverty  of  the  people  who  elected  them. 
They  forgot  that  the  destitution  of  widows  and  orphans  who  happen  to  own 
as  their  little  all  a  residuary  interest  in  encumbered  property  is  no  bar  to  the 
demands  of  the  relentless  tax-gatherer.  It  is  not  a  necessity  that  these  men 
hold  office.  It  is  a  necessity,  however,  that  people  pay  taxes.  It  is  a  common 
remark  of  men  when  installed  in  lucrative  offices  that,  in  order  to  get  good 
men,  we  must  pay  large  salaries.  This  is  not  true.  For  there  is  not  an  office  in 
our  city  that  could  not  be  filled  by  an  equal  to  its  present  incumbent  in 
every  qualification,  and  oftentimes  by  a  superior,  for  less  iiioney.  I  look 
upon  it  as  calamitous,  to  both  the  country  and  the  office-holder,  when  office 
seeking  becomes  a  profession,  and  when  a  man  puts  his  eye  upon  the  public 
treasury  as  a  means  of  support  from  boyhood  to  old  age.  It  is  better  that 
offices  be  taken  for  their  honors,  and  that  they  be  distributed  more  generally 
than  they  now  are  among  the  community.  Next  beyond  the  importance  of 
questions  affecting  the  rights  of  men  in  a  national  point  of  view,  the 
dominant  party  in  Chicago  owes  its  success  in  the  late  election  to  its 
promises  of  economy.  These  promises  the  unsuccessful  party  denounced  as 
hypocritical.  It  will  soon  be  seen  whether  they  were  so  or  not.  If  men  do 
not  like  their  fees  and  salaries  they  can  resign  their  offices.  And,  when  men 
come  around  you,  gentlemen  of  the  Council,  panting  for  more  of  the  sweat 
and  blood  of  our  tax-payers,  if  you  will  only  stand  firm,  tell  them  that  it  is 
your  duty  to  protect  the  people's  treasury,  and  advise  them  to  resign  if  they 
do  not  like  their  pay,  they  will  cease  to  trouble  you.  I  shall  make  no 
appointments   until  the   salaries    of   the   appointees   are  fixed,    and   shall 


11 

promptly  remove  any  man  who  complains  of  the  inadcqnacy  of  his  compen- 
sation. It  shall  not  be  my  fault  if  the  public  expectation,  with  reference  to 
a  reduction  of  the  expenses  of  our  city,  is  not  fultilied. 

Section  15  of  Chapter  III.  of  the  City  Charter  comes  greatly  to  our 
aid  in  all  measures  of  econouiical  reform.     It  says  : 

"The  Common  Council  shall  liave  the  power,  from  time  to  time,  to  require  further  and 
other  duties  of  all  ofHoers  whose  duties  are  lierein  prescribed,  and  prescribe  the  powers  and 
duties  of  all  officers  appointed  or  elected  to  any  office  under  this  act,  whose  duties  are  not 
herein  specifically  mentioned,  and  fix  their  compensation." 

This  will  enable  the  Council  to  assign  to  any  officer  the  duties  of  any 
office  whicli  a  just  regard  for  the  universal  expectation  that  we  will  curtail 
our  city  expenses,  may  require  us  to  abolish. 

The  same  Section  says  : 

"They  may  also  require  Bond^  to  be  given  to  the  City  of  Chicago  by  all  officers  for  the 
faithful   performance  of  their  duties." 

I  recommend  that  all  our  City  officers  and  employees  be  required  to 
give  bonds  of  sonre  kind.  If  the  negligence,  ignorance  or  malfeasance  of 
an  officer  or  an  employee  is  the  means  of  the  City's  losing  money,  it  is  the 
same  thing  to  the  tax-payers  as  if  the  money  were  taken  directly  from  the 
Treasury.  The  City  Attorney  should  be  required  not  only  to  give  Bond  for 
the  faithful  discharge  of  his  duties,  but  also  to  faithfully  close  up  without 
cost  to  the  city  the  suits  commenced  during  his  term  of  office.  It  is  almost 
invariably  the  case  that  a  City  Attorney  is  necessitated  to  consult  his  pre- 
decessor respecting  unfinished  business,  and  this  results  in  the  City's  having 
to  pay  a  large  bill  every  year  for  extra  legal  services.  Well  meaning  and 
honest  physicians  and  surgeons  are  held  responsible  for  their  malpractice, 
even  when  it  is  the  result  of  inexperience  alone.  So  it  ought  to  be  with  City 
employees.  This  would  secure  to  the  City  better  services,  as  men  would 
not  recommend  those  whose  bonds  they  would  not  sign. 

It  has  become  too  common  for  persons  fined  in  our  Courts  to  appeal  to 
the  Council  to  have  their  fines  remitted.  Every  person  is  entitled  to  a  fair 
and  impartial  trial  before  our  Courts,  can  be  heard  by  Counsel,  and  can  call 
for  a  jury.  If  he  is  not  satisfied  with  one  trial,  he  can  ask  for  another,  or 
appeal  to  a  higher  Court.  It  is  not  one  of  the  defects  of  Chicago  that  it 
has  not  Courts  enough.  Now  these  appeals  from  the  Courts  to  the  Common 
Council  are  but  appeals  from  public  justice  to  private  sympathy.  An 
Alderman  can  only  get  at  one,  and  tliat  the  interested,  side  of  a  case. 
Besides,  he  has  no  power  to  examine  witnesses  imder  oath.  My  ajiproba- 
tion  cannot  be  given  to  any  such  interference  with  the  duties  of  our  Courts. 
In  discussing  the  necessity  of  additional  legislation  for  our  city  at  the 
next  session  of  our  Legislature,  we  shouM  not  be  unmindful  of  the  large 
contributions  which  the  city  is  compelled  to  make  to  the  various  offices  in 
the  Court  House  under  stealthy  h>gislative  enactments,  which  have  been 
accumulating  for  years.  Too  many  of  our  oflicers  have  been  in  the  habit  of 
quietly  slipping  off  to  the  State  Capital  and  procuring  the  passage  of  laws 
by  the  Legislature  which  take  money  from  the  great  masses  of  the  tax- 
payers outside  of  the  Court  House,  to  fill  the  pockets  of  the  few  inside  ; 
and  the  great  extent  of  the  legislation  of  this  kind  shows  that  too  many  of 
our  legislators  were  laboring  under  the  impression  that  they  owed  a  greater 
obligation  to  the  office-holders  than  to  the  people  at  large.  Although  these 
remarks  are  applicable  to  t!ie  greater  number  of  the  otfices  with  which  the 
city  is  compelled  to  transact  any  business,  I  prefer  to  illustrate  them  by  the 
office  of  Sheriff",  because  I  can  do  so  without  being  ch.arged  with  any  unkind 
feelings  towards  its  worthy  incumbent,  as  he  has  received  no  benefits  from 


12 

any  legislation  enacted  against  the  city  during  his  term,  and  as  he  is  ineligible 
to  a  re-election.  The  Sheriff  gets  fifty  cents  per  day,  or  $3  50  per  week,  for 
dieting  prisoners.  The  Bridewell  keeper  gets  fiftcn  cents  per  day,  or  $1.05 
per  week  for  the  same  thing.  The  Slieriff  gets  $20  for  every  jury  summoned 
to  the  City  Court,  thirty-fiv^e  cents  for  every  committal,  and  thirty-five  more 
for  every  discharge  in  the  same  Court.  There  has  been  over  §7,000  paid 
for  dieting  prisoners  the  past  year,  when  the  City  could  have  done  the  same 
thing  at  the  Bridewell  for  less  than  one-third  the  amount.  There  has  been 
paid  the  past  year,  to  the  Sheriff,  for  fees  in  serving  papers  and  for  pay  of 
oflicers  in  attending  Court,  $2,300,  when  the  City  Marshal  and  Policemen 
could  have  performed  the  same  duties  with  scarcely  any  extra  expense  to 
the  City. 

Legislation  in  this  matter  is  much  needed,  and  now  is  the  time  to  begin 
to  agitate  for  it.  Candidates  are  already  numerous  and  are  fiist  becoming 
more  so.  Let  all  candidates  for  County  offices  be  given  to  understand  that 
they  must  be  pledged  to  throw  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  a  proper  reduction 
of  the  amount  of  their  drafts  upon  the  pockets  of  the  tax-payers,  and  all 
candidates  for  the  Legislature  also  be  given  to  understand  that  their  alle- 
giance is  due  to  those  outside  the  Court  House.  There  is  but  one  way  to 
reduce  expenses  ;  and  it  is  neither  Republican  nor  Democratic  to  oppress 
the  many  for  the  aggrandizement  of  the  few. 

The  Reform  School  is  fulfilling  the  expectations  of  its  most  sanguine 
friends.  The  tax  for  its  support  last  year  was  one  mill,  but  the  product 
of  this  tax  was  not  all  needed,  and  it  is  thought  that  only  one  half  of  a  mill 
will  be  required  this  year.  It  is  hoped  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  the 
State  will  establish  such  an  institution,  and  thereby  relieve  the  City  from 
the  expense  of  supporting  it.  I  wish  our  City  finances,  or  even  our  City 
credit,  were  in  a  situation  to  warrant  me  in  recommending  a  similar  institu- 
tion for  girls.  It  is  much  needed.  Humanity  demands  it.  Should  the 
system  of  Finance  recommended  by  me  be  carried  out,  I  now  know 
of  nothing  to  prevent  my  successor  from  recommending  the  immediate 
establishment  of  such  a  much  needed  institution.  The  "  Ordinance 
concerning  the  Reform  School"  should  be  so  amended  as  to  make  the 
Provisions  of  Sec.  6  of  the  amended  Chapter  apply  to  the  Members  of  the 
Board  of  Guardians,  as  well  as  to  the  Members  of  the  Common  Council. 
There  are  even  stronger  reasons  why  members  of  the  Board  of  Guardians 
should  not  have  voted  to  them  any  salaries  or  compensation  than  there  are 
that  Members  of  the  Common  Council  should  not.  Whilst  Mayor  of 
the  city,  in  1857, 1  took  strong  grounds  against  this  practice,  and  was  in  hopes 
that  it  had  been  abandoned.  I  find  however,  that  one  of  the  Guardians 
gets  eight  hundred  dollars  per  annum  for  services  that  ought  to  be  performed 
by  the  Comptroller.  In  order  that  the  Comptroller  might  know  the  wants 
of  the  Reform  School,  I  appointed  him  one  of  the  Guardians,  which  position 
he  now  holds.  Let  the  Board  of  Guardians  issue  their  drafts  for  supplies 
upon  the  Comptroller,  and  let  him  contract  for  them.  The  Comptroller  is 
the  financial  oflicer  of  the  City.  He  is  sworn  to  a  faithful  discharge  of  his 
duties.  He  gives  ample  Bonds  and  can  be  removed  for  malfeasance.  I 
can  sign  no  order  appropriating  money  to  pay  any  compensation  to  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Guardians. 

Additional  legislation  is  required  to  prevent  our  Street  Commissioners 
from  expending  more  money  than  is  appropriated  to  them,  and  also  to  prevent 
their  expending  the  whole  amount  of  their  appropriations  in  the  early  part  of 
the  year.  The  Comptroller  cannot  pay  out  of  the  Treasury  for  any  purpose 
any  more  money  than  is  appropriated  for  that  specific  purpose.     The  mal- 


13 

conduct  of  tlie  Street  Commissioner  in  this  respect  cither  deprives  the 
laborer  of  his  wages,  or  compels  him  to  wait  until  the  next  year's  appro- 
priation. Each  Division  should  have  money  to  its  credit  to  the  very  end 
of  the  year.  Hence  I  recommend  that,  in  appropriating  money  for  street 
labor,  you  limit  the  amount  which  the  Comptroller  shall  pay  out  in  any  one 
month.  With  over  eighteen  thousand  voters  at  one  and  one-half  dollars 
each,  there  ought  to  be  collected  at  least  Twenty  Five  Thousand  Dollars 
for  Street  Taxes.  I  recommend  a  special  Street  Tax  Collector  for  each 
Ward,  who  shall  be  a  resident  of  the  Ward  for  which  he  collects,  and  that 
the  amount  collected  from  the  voters  of  each  Ward  be  expended  in  that 
Ward.  This  will  create  a  community  of  interest  among  the  people  of  the 
Ward ;  and,  by  taking  the  poll  lists  at  the  election,  as  each  voter  is  required 
to  pay  a  street  tax,  the  collector  will  have  it  in  his  power  to  expose  persons 
who  voted,  but  cannot  now  be  found.  The  publication  of  the  names  of 
such  persons  would  furnish  a  very  interesting  commentary  uj^on  the  election 
frauds  in  our  city. 

A  Board  of  Public  Works  is  much  needed,  both  to  systematize  and 
economize  our  improvements.  In  the  legitimate  discharge  of  their  respective 
duties,  we  find  the  Street  Commissioners,  the  Board  of  Sewerage  Commis- 
sioners, the  Water  Commissioners  and  City  Superintendent  severally  open- 
ing and  filling  the  same  ground  in  a  single  week.  The  work  is  paid  for  four 
times,  when,  with  a  consolidation  of  these  different  offices  and  boards,  it  need 
be  but  once.  The  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  this  much  needed  reform 
is  the  incumbents  of  the  offices.  Every  man  dislikes  to  be  legislated  out  of 
office.  But  the  law  need  not  take  effect  until  the  tei-ms  of  the  offices  of 
Street  Commissioners  and  City  Superintendent  expire,  and  the  Boards  of 
Water  and  Sewerage  Commissioners  could  be  consolidated  into  a  Board  of 
Public  Works,  to  consist  of  the  present  six  incumbents,  until  the  terms  of 
any  two  expire.  Then  one  only  should  be  elected  to  supply  the  place  of 
the  two.  Thus,  in  two  years,  Ave  could  have  a  new  Board  consisting  of 
only  three  members.  This  measure  has  been  defeated  heretofore  by  a 
struggle  for  offices.  The  plan  suggested  would  prevent  this  struggle  here- 
after. When  we  reflect  that  each  of  these  Boards  has  a  separate  Engineer, 
Secretary  and  other  assistants  receiving  large  salaries,  and  that  the  City 
Superintendent  and  Street  Commissioners  have  each  their  assistants,  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  their  consolidation  Avould  save  at  least  $25,000  per  annum 
to  our  city. 

The  ordinance  providing  for  the  organization  of  the  Paid  Fire  Depart- 
ment, passed  before  the  City  had  much  experience  with  reference  to  this 
indispensable  institution,  needs  alteration  in  many  important  particulars. 
Altliough  those  portions  of  it  which  conflict  with  the  City  Charter  are  of 
no  force,  yet  they  mislead  the  firemen,  who  have  a  right  to  suppose  that 
they  can  rely  upon  the  provisions  of  tlie  Ordinance.  The  Charter  requires 
that  all  officers  not  elected  by  the  People  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor ; 
and  no  ordinance  of  the  City  can  shield  the  Mayor  from  a  just  responsibility 
in  seeing  that  all  the  members  of  our  Paid  Fire  Department,  like  the  other 
officers  of  the  city,  are  men  qualified  by  intelligence,  character  and  habits 
for  their  positions. 

In  the  revision  of  your  rules,  I  recommend  that  you  dispense  with  the 
Committee  on  Claims,  which  committee  was  created  before  the  new  charter 
went  into  eftect.  Section  thirteen  of  the  new  Charter  provides  that,  when 
the  Comptroller  shall  doubt  the  "  Correctness  of  any  claim  he  shall  submit 
the  same  to  the  Mayor  and  Finance  Committee  for  their  decision  thereon, 
which  decision  shall  be  binding  upon  the  City  and  filed  among,  his  other 


14 

vouchers  in  the  Comptroller's  Office,"  The  object  of  this  section  is  to 
take  all  claims  away  from  the  Common  Council  and  give  them  to  the  Comp- 
troller, with  the  right  to  appeal  to  the  Mayor  and  Finance  Committee. 
This  does  not  debar  any  claimant  from  his  right  to  sue  the  city  in  any  of 
our  Courts.  I  look  upon  it,  that  the  duties  of  the  Committee  on  Claims  are 
merged  in  that  of  the  Finance  Committee.  Hereafter  all  disputed  accounts, 
in  the  Comptroller's  office,  will  be  referred  directly  to  the  Mayor  and 
Finance  Committee,  and  their  decision  will  be  a  bar  to  any  action  of  the 
Common  Council.  No  officer  of  the  City  save  the  Comptroller  can  contract 
a  debt  against  the  City,  neither  can  that  officer  until  a  specific  appropriation 
be  first  made.  Yet  the  (Common  Council  is  frequently  appealed  to  for  the 
allowance  of  claims  and  bills,  which  the  Comptroller  has  no  power  to  allow, 
even  if  he  had  the  disposition.  I  recommend  you,  gentlemen,  to  scan  well 
your  general  appropriation  bill,  due  in  the  month  of  April,  and  after  that 
shall  have  passed,  to  close  the  door  of  your  Treasury  for  the  remainder  of 
the  year.  We  can  only  raise,  by  taxation,  such  an  amount  of  money  as  is 
covered  by  the  General  Appropriation  Bill.  If  we  vote  money  from  the 
Treasury  for  objects  not  specified  in  the  General  Appropriation  Bill,  a  float- 
ing debt  is  inevitable. 

I  would  recommend  great  circumspection  in  your  action  concerning  tho 
vacation  of  streets  and  alleys.  By  a  law  of  the  last  session  of  our  Legis- 
lature, a  majority  of  a  quorum  can  vacate  any  street  or  alley  without  any 
previous  notice.  In  the  known  absence  of  some  members  of  this  Board, 
two  members  can  call  eleven  together,  and  six  of  the  eleven  can  close  np 
Lake  Street  or  any  other  street  in  the  city,  and  the  same  six  can  at  once 
choose  the  Commissioners  to  assess  damages.  A  law  so  summary  as  this 
and  made  applicable  to  our  whole  city  was  not  enacted  without  an  object. 
The  excitement  caused  by  its  passage  may  have  prevenied  action  under  its 
provisions  last  year.  Yoiir  circumspection  may  prevent  any  this  year.  But 
the  existence  of  such  a  law  tends  to  impair  confidence  in  the  value  of 
Chicago  real  estate  investments,  as  the  value  of  land  is  estimated  by  its 
number  of  feet  front;  and  a  gentleman  from  the  East  may  come  here  and 
buy  frontage,  and  before  he  reaches  his  home,  under  the  summary  jDrovisions 
of  this  law,  he  may  be  deprived  of  the  sole  object  of  his  purchase. 

A  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Education  has  called  public  attention 
to  a  statement  of  facts  well  calculated  to  alarm  our  citizens  with  respect  to 
the  safety  of  a  portion  of  our  School  Fund.  The  Charter  requires  tliat  all 
officers  of  the  City  not  elected  by  the  people,  shall  be  nominated  by  the 
Mayor.  Now  as  both  the  Comptroller  and  School  Agent  are  required  to 
be  nominated  by  the  Mayor  and  confirmed  by  the  Council,  it  has  occurred 
to  me  that  since  there  is  no  difference  in  the  means  of  appointing  these  two 
officers,  the  duties  of  School  Agent  might  be  performed  by  the  Comptroller 
without  any  additional  expense  to  the  City.  If  the  Comptroller  does  not 
give  ample  bonds  to  cover  the  amount  of  School  Fund,  the  Council  has  ample 
power  to  increase  them.  In  this  way  the  salary  of  the  School  Agent,  which 
is  $500,  will  be  saved  for  the  benefit  of  the  Schools.  This  will  be  more 
convenient  for  the  public,  as  the  Comptroller's  office  is  open  during  all 
business  hours.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  Board  of  Education  have 
control  of  this  office.  Now,  my  remarks  concerning  the  Board  of  Guar- 
dians of  Reform  School,  will  apply  to  the  Board  of  Education.  You, 
Gentlemen  of  the  Common  Council,  are  prohibited  from  receiving  any  office 
at  the  hands  of  the  City,  and  I  hope  the  day  is  not  far  distant,  when  the 
Board  of  Supervisors  of  Cook  County,  the  Board  of  Guardians  of  Reform 


15 

School,  and  all  other  Boards  will  have  the  same  restrictions  applied  to  them 
as  are  now  applied  to  you. 

Indeed,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  day  is  not  distant  when  the  standard  of 
moral  integrity  will  be  so  high  that  no  such  law  may  be  necessary  to  avert 
the  selfish  schemes  of  men  in  official  positions.  Should  my  recommenda- 
tion be  adopted,  a  provision  should  be  made  that  the  Comptroller  make  a 
monthly  report  to  the  Board  of  Education  and  to  the  Common  Council  of 
his  transactions  touching  the  School  Fund,  and  that  any  member  of  the 
Board  of  Education  or  of  the  Common  Council  should  at  all  times  have 
free  access  to  the  Books  and  papers  reloting  thereto. 

I  am  satisfied  that  the  office  of  Assistant  Harbor  Master  which  now 
costs  the  city  ^500  per  annum  is  a  sinecure  and  should  be  abolished. 

GENTLEME]sr  OF  THE  CoMMo:Nr  CouNciL : — ITowcver  much  we  may 
diflfer  respecting  the  question  of  the  voluntary  and  involuntary  systems  of 
labor,  that  now  constitutes  the  only  difference  between  the  two  great  politi- 
cal parties  of  our  nation,  there  is  no  necessity  that  we  should  be  divided  in 
our  opinions  or  our  actions  in  Municipal  affairs.  Good  order  affects  us  all 
alike.  P^conomy  reduces  the  taxes  of  all  alike.  The  preservation  of  our 
City's  credit  benefits  us  all  alike.  A  proper  enforcement  of  the  laws  gives 
security  alike  to  all.  We  all  have  children  in  whose  future  our  hopes  are 
alike  concentrated.  Our  interests  are  one.  Our  expectations  are  the  same. 
Our  destinies  are  identical.  Why,  then,  should  we  differ  ?  I  am  your  pre- 
siding officer  for  the  last  time.  Seven  endorsements  at  the  hands  of  my 
fellow  citizens  have  satisfied  my  most  sanguine  aspirations.  It  is  for  some 
of  them  soon  to  stand  in  the  position  which  I  now  occupy;  and  when  they 
do,  they  will  appreciate  my  appeal,  to  forget  all  outside  differences,  and 
remember  only  the  interests  of  our  city.  The  pressure  upon  us  froni  chiim- 
ants,  contractors  and  office-hunters  will  be  great.  We  must  steel  our  hearts 
to  all  other  sympathies  but  those  for  the  tax-payers  of  our  city.  The  man 
who  does  this  belongs  to  my  party,  so  far  as  all  municipal  affairs  are  con- 
cerned, and  I  belong  to  his.  The  eyes  of  all  our  citizens  are  upon  us. 
They  expect  much  at  this  crisis  in  our  financial  affairs,  at  our  hands.  Your 
future  prospects  demand  that  that  expectation  shall  not  be  destroyed  ;  whilst 
I,, in  my  determination  to  retire  to  private  life,  have  but  one  ambition  ;  and, 
in  accordance  therewith,  I  mvoke  the  aid  oi  the  Ruler  of  the  Univeise, that 
our  Administration  may  be  governed  in  all  things  by  the  right,  and  be  con- 
ducive to  the  lasting  welliare  of  our  city. 

JOHN   WENTWORTII. 


me. 


